|
Aging Gracefully? Forget It.
Today's Culture feeds Anti-Aging Obsession
AFTER 2 1/2 YEARS of steady Botox injections between her eyebrows,
into her forehead, around and underneath her eyes, Catherine Cassilian
enjoys people commenting on how well-rested she looks.
"I bought all the things ... Estee Lauder ... Clinique ...
all the lotions and potions," said Cassilian from Vancouver.
"But nothing helps. Especially as you get older you really
start to develop these fine wrinkles."
Cassilian, 31, started getting treatments of the botulinum toxin,
which causes muscle paralysis, at the age of 28 so she wouldn't
get frown lines.
She's not alone. The fountain of youth has been sought by every
generation. From pinching cheeks and biting lips for a youthful
glow to colouring over grey hair, there have always been little
tricks to recapture the illusion of youth.
But now medical technology has provided a sliding scale, and
people can do more than camouflage the signs of aging. So much
for growing old gracefully. Taking pride in one's appearance has
evolved into an anti-aging obsession that begins earlier than
ever.
"I think there is a trend that we are seeing younger women
being targeted for these procedures," said Melanie Cishecki,
executive director of Toronto-based MediaWatch, a non-profit group
that monitors sexist images in the media.
"I think we see more and more women buying into this advertising
about their role - a decorative role - with an impossible body
image in a youth culture."
Berkeley Kaite, an associate professor of cultural studies at
McGill University, correlates the desire to look youthful to a
consumer-based society.
"In societies of mass production and mass consumption we
always want something new ... the newest, the best, the latest,"
said Kaite from Montreal. "It wasn't always that way and
not all cultures do. There are different cultures that listen
to their elders."
"We think of older people as disposable," Kaite said.
"You dispose of the old and replace it with the new. I can't
see that it's not connected to our consumer culture."
Dr. Alastair Carruthers, the Vancouver dermatologist who, along
with his physician wife, discovered the use of Botox to prevent
wrinkles, has seen a change in the anti-aging industry.
"Twenty years ago the idea of cosmetic procedures was you
waited until you were 50 and you had a facelift and, if you were
lucky enough to live long enough, you had it repeated," said
Carruthers.
While the aging issue becomes more of a concern in the 30s, Carruthers
said "now certainly we see people earlier than that."
In fact, Cassilian a nurse at Carruthers Dermatology Centre in
Vancouver, decided to get Botox when she saw that it wasn't only
aging starlets who were using the procedure, but younger women
who wanted to prevent wrinkles from occurring.
Carruthers has seen a dramatic increase in the number of patients
wanting Botox injections.
His observation is more than anecdotal. Botox injections increased
2,356 per cent in the United States from 1997 to 2001, according
to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery Web site
(www.surgery.org).
With virtually no recovery time needed and costing a fraction
of a forehead lift, Botox injections are gaining popularity around
the world. Global sales of Botox went from $25 million US in 1993
to an estimated $430 million in 2002, the British Medical Journal
reported in November.
The journal also warned in an editorial that "in this atmosphere
of Botox parties (where champagne sipping socialites are injected
with botulinum toxin), it is easy to forget that botulinum is
a potent neurotoxin and that its very long-term effects are still
unknown."
Still, many people dismiss the risks for the promise of beauty.
Michael Jackson's constantly morphing nose hasn't diminished the
call for rhinoplasty, the number 1 cosmetic surgery in the U.S.
in 2001.
While Canada doesn't keep any statistics on surgical facelifts,
the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery found there
were nearly 8.5 million cosmetic procedures performed in the U.S.
in 2001. These include surgeries such as liposuction, eyelid surgery
and facelifts, as well as non-surgical procedures such as botulinum
toxin injection, chemical peels and collagen injections.
"At 33 I looked about 43. In fact I look younger now than
I did then," said a 47-year-old Cindy Jackson, who has undergone
over 30 procedures since 1988 to look not only younger but also
different.
Jackson is a London-based writer who has openly discussed plastic
surgery in her books Cosmetic Surgery Secrets and Living Doll,
on talk shows and on her Web site. She dismisses criticism that
her surgeries are, at best, proof of low self-esteem and at worst,
an example of addiction.
"I moved to London and I knew nobody ... I sang in a rock
band and run my own business. Does that sound like someone with
a low self-esteem?" asked Jackson, who has been a member
of Mensa since high school. "Addiction is a serious disease
that destroys lives whereas my life has never been better."
"I didn't like my face, so I changed it. I don't think there
is anything morally wrong with cosmetic surgery."
For those who don't want procedures - surgical or otherwise -
there's a multitude of creams, lotions, serums and diets that
may keep your real age a mystery.
Dr. Nicholas V. Perricone, author of The Wrinkle Cure and The
Perricone Prescription, has a three-day wrinkle cure diet. Women
swear that after three days of fish and vegetables their skin
is beautiful - but they don't want to see poached salmon for a
long time.
Canadian women and, to a lesser extent, men spent a total of
$630 million in 2001 at the retail level on facial products, according
to a study by Kline & Company, a U.S. market research and
consulting firm. That's a six per cent increase from the year
before. Facial products include all cleansers, astringents, toners,
eye creams, serums and masks - with the exception of any products
aimed at acne.
"One of the major trends is the extension and sales growth
of anti-aging products. There were a number of new launches in
2001 that helped boost sales," said Carrie Bonner, project
manager of consumer products at Kline.
Christian Dior, ROC, Neostrata, Lancome and Clarins - to name
only a few companies - all have anti-aging products in their skincare
lines. With ingredients such as alpha hydroxy acids, Vitamin C
and Retinol, they all promise a reduction in the visibility of
facial lines.
But then there are those who want a more holistic approach to
stop the signs of aging.
"If you are aging too rapidly, it's usually because there
is something going on in terms of stress in the system,"
said Ravinder Gill, a doctor of naturopathic medicine in Toronto.
Instead of approaching age from the outside of the body with
creams or surgery, Gill looks at what a person is missing nutritionally.
For example if a person is very deficient in Vitamin C, they start
to lose collagen in their skin. Collagen is what keep the "apples"
up on our cheeks.
By making the body stronger, the body can better cope with the
stresses of life.
"With that ability to cope there is less of an aging effect,"
said Gill.
With people preoccupied about aging while still in their mid-20s
and an overall longer life expectancy, it means there are scores
of years for them to pick and choose from among the various methods
that may - or may not - help them cling to their youth.
But some take a more penetrating approach.
"The real issue is, if we are living longer, how do we live
longer disability-free? How do we delay the onset of frailty and
dependence? Not how do we live wrinkle-free?" said Howard
Bergman, director of geriatric medicine at McGill University.
|
